Ware did the right thing on Manning’s ‘painfully slow’ TD run

IRVING – There were plenty of embarrassing moments for Monte Kiffin’s defense in Sunday’s 51-48 loss to Denver, but the worst may have come when slow-footed Peyton Manning strolled untouched into the end zone on a naked bootleg.

Manning’s TD came with 46 seconds left in the first half and gave the Broncos a 28-17 halftime cushion.

Coach Jason Garrett insisted that defensive end DeMarcus Ware did his job on the play, which Manning didn’t tell his teammates he would be running. After faking the handoff to Knowshon Moreno, Manning rolled wide to his left and into the end zone. Ware, meanwhile, chased Moreno from behind.

“It was a great sales job,” Garrett said of Manning lining up in a formation that indicated the ball would go to Moreno for a run off guard. “DeMarcus Ware came down the line of scrimmage. That’s what we asked him to do. It’s something they haven’t shown before and they did a good job. He came down and was going to try to defend the cut back. If the (runner bounced wide), he’s there to make the play. If we’re in that situation again, we might ask guys to do things differently to handle something like that.”

Garrett shrugged when told that Manning didn’t tell his teammates the bootleg was coming.

“That’s typical,” Garrett said. “The tricky thing is on those you have to tell the backs sometimes because sometimes the back won’t get the ball and he’ll look back. That’s an age-old thing. So you’ve got to be able to trust the back enough.”

Garrett responded with a dose of humor when a reporter said it was the slowest touchdown she’d ever seen.